Saturday, November 2, 2013

NaBloPoMo

It's November again (or as a Clarissa insists it's called, Nonember) and I decided to participate in NaBloPoMo. It stands for National Blog Posting Month. There is a website that does it all year and I'm not really part of that website, but I like the idea of taking a month and blogging every single day. It kind of recharges my love of writing and gets my blog moving again.

At this point I don't even know who is reading my blog anymore or why, lol. When I was going though the adoption process my blog had quite a following and it was really fun to share our adoption story with everyone. Over the years I realize that my blog has become much more dull and I'm sure it has fewer readers than it used to. If you're still hanging in there, I'm glad you're here! :) My life isn't super exciting these days but I like to write down what's going on. If for nothing else, I think my kids will enjoy it later.

My dad died when I was 20 and I never really got to know him as an adult. There are so many questions about his life that I would love to ask him now but I can't. So my blog kind of serves that purpose for me with my kids. Some day my kids might enjoy reading my thoughts, dull as they sometimes are, lol. I'm actually kicking around the idea of doing flashback Fridays or something next year and writing down some old stories or posting old photos as a project next year. Kind of a brief life history in random stories for my kids to read sometime.

Anyway, this month I will be pulling some of the writing prompts from the NaBloPoMo site and maybe throwing in a few other random things. Anything to get me blogging every day for a month. I can't guarantee that it will be interesting, but I'll be here every day this month so hopefully you'll check in!

In honor of Heirs making me feel all mushy yesterday with the kissing scene, I decided to pull some love related writing prompts from last February. It's basically a list of questions to give you something to write about. I'll pick a few and write about them.

When was the last time you said, "I love you."?

I'm sure it was this morning. We're a big "I love you" family. We say it all day long to each other. When I was growing up, my family was not a big "I love you" family, and still isn't. That's something I vowed to change with my own family. We say it every time we walk out the door, and practically every time we walk out of the room! I like that about our family. If there is one thing I want for my kids it's to know how much they are loved. You can't say I love you too much.

Tell us about your first crush.

I had so many crushes as a teenager that I honestly can't even remember who came first. I was always giggly about some boy. I have to admit, I have really loved watching my own kids entering that time in their lives. Josh often confides in my about his crushes (Don't worry Josh, your secrets are safe with me) and I've seen that giddiness about having a crush that I remember so well as a kid. He's also come home sad when the feelings are not reciprocated and I remember those feelings well too. I love to listen to his tales of who is dating who and who just broke up and who has a crush on who. Josh and I are pretty close. I know a surprising amount about the love lives of middle schoolers these days, lol.

I look back on those days in my own life both fondly and with amusement. Teenage hormones are a funny thing. They're up and down and every crush is a life of death situation. At least for a week or so until someone new catches your eye. :) Josh loves it when I tell him stories about the boys I had a crush on when I was his age. I told him that when I was his age no one had caller ID so after school me and my friends would call up the boys we liked, wait for them to answer the phone and then when they answered we would hang up and giggle about it for hours. That cracked Josh up. Every time he's bummed out about something all I have to do is bring up the times I hung up on boys and I can have him rolling with laughter in no time. If you can't use all the stupid things you did in your life to amuse your kids, the memories are useless, lol.

How old were you the first time you fell in love?

The first time I really fell in love was shortly after I turned 17. I met a boy in high school who turned my world upside down for a while. When that relationship eventually broke my heart people kept telling me that one day I would look back and laugh that I thought I was in love. Nope. That relationship was love to me, even all these years later. Falling in love for the first time is an exciting and scary thing. It's a very vulnerable thing to give your heart to someone, especially when you're young. I learned a lot about life from that relationship. Good things and bad. But all these years later I mostly look back on it with good memories and I'm grateful that I had that time in my life. I love that I experienced all those teenage butterflies in your stomach moments. The first kiss, the first I love you, sitting together under the stars in the middle of the night, knowing you're going to get grounded because you missed curfew but still not wanting to go home quite yet. I haven't forgotten those things. All that first love stuff stays with you forever, long after it breaks your heart.

Aristotle said, "Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies." Do you agree or disagree?

I'm not always the mushy romantic that I was when I was younger, but I like that quote. It reminds me of Shawn and how we always joke that we're the same person. After 16 years of marriage we've reached that stage where we're finishing each other sentences and we know what the other is going to do before they do it. We almost have a short hand, in a way. I can say one word from our endless trove of silly inside jokes and he knows exactly what I'm talking about. Love evolves a little over the years. I can't remember the last time that I sat under the stars with butterflies in my stomach waiting for a boy to kiss me, but I still feel happy when it's Shawn's name on my caller ID, telling me he's on his way home from work. He's the person I tell my secrets to, the first person I want to celebrate my successes with, the person who has seen me at my worst and I know would never judge me for it. He understands me on a deep level and I get him in the same way. I like that kind of love. Being married to your best friend is the greatest thing in the world. We're obnoxiously joined at the hip and we like it that way. There is no one I would rather share a soul with. :)

Ok, so that's enough blog post for today. I'll dig up some writing prompts on a different subject for tomorrow. We'll see if I can keep it up for a month! :)

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About Me

My name is Wendy and I'm a stay at home mom to three great kids. I'm also a full time college student, working towards an eventual master’s degree in marriage and family counseling. We brought our youngest child home from South Korea in October 2009, which was the inspiration for this blog. I love to read, I love photography, I love to talk about international adoption and I love all things Korean!